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Many of us have been waiting until August 18th to learn what will happen to the travel package stay certificates that we acquired prior to August 18th. This afternoon, we finally got some information from Marriott. For background on this topic, please see: What will happen to existing Marriott Travel Package certificates?
We learned the following:
- New travel package pricing begins August 18th (yes, we already knew that)
- Existing travel package stay certificates that have not yet been used to book a stay will be in limbo between August 18th and September 17th. If you don’t book a stay before August 18th, you won’t be able to use the certificate until September 18th.
- If, before August 18th, you apply a travel package stay certificate to an award stay, you won’t be able to modify the reservation until September 18th.
And the following was implied:
- As of September 18th, old stay certificates will become new certificates. But we do not know how they will map old to new.
- Despite what Starwood Lurker had said about floater certificates, these certificates will not be refunded for points.
Again, for background on this topic, please see: What will happen to existing Marriott Travel Package certificates?
The Message
Here was the actual message that we received from Dan Forman, Senior Director – Loyalty, Digital, Marketing Innovation PR at Marriott International:
Hot off the presses…
When our loyalty programs unify on August 18, our new Travel Package award chart here, will go into effect and members will be able to book for packages at all 6,700 of our hotels.
However, if you currently have a Travel Package Certificate that’s not yet attached to a hotel reservation, you have the following options:
- If you know when you want to travel, make a new reservation or attach your certificate to an existing one prior to August 18, 2018.
- If you are still trying to plan that perfect trip, you can hold onto the certificate and will be able to add it to a reservation starting September 18, 2018.
Please note that you will not be able to modify your certificate for an existing reservation or attach it to a new one between August 18 and September 18, 2018.
So… What should we do?
I’m just beginning to digest this news, so I’m sure I’ll have more thoughts on this topic soon, but for now:
- If you want to book a Marriott hotel with an existing travel package stay certificate and you want to book it before September 18th, you should do it now (before 8/18)
- If you want to book a Starwood property with an existing travel package stay certificate, you’ll have to wait until September 18th.
- If you have no idea how you want to use the stay certificate, consider using it to book a hotel that will be going way up in award cost in the new program (see: Banking travel certificates for future luxury). It’s unlikely, but there’s a chance that this will increase the value of your certificate. Update: the more I think about this I realize that this really won’t help unless you book a place you want to stay.
- If you haven’t booked a travel package yet, but you intend to do so before new pricing goes into effect on August 18th, then see this post for ideas: Marriott Travel Package Arbitrage
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Hi! I have been trying to use my old Marriott certificates -2 (for category 1-5) and 1 (for Category 7) for SPG properties. I’ve spoken to several reps at both Marriott and SPG and they are saying that these certificates cannot be used for SPG properties at this time. Has anyone had better luck? Any suggestions?
A number of people have reported success (but it’s not easy!). Keep calling SPG until you get someone who can do it. If they say they can’t, ask to speak to a supervisor.
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Hey Greg or Nick, I recall that you could previously turn in your 1-5 certificate for 45,000 Marriott points, do either of you know if we can still do that? And if so, how do we go about doing this?
I don’t know for sure whether you still can or not. If you want to try, you’ll have to call Marriott Rewards before Saturday and make that request.
You can block 7 nights / or any number of award nights without having the points under the current program , but it may not be the case under the new prog. Initially Marriott might have the plans to refund the points , but seeing the demand and rush , they have decided to screw u guys and also block it for a month and also wont allow to block the award nights without points.
Was planning on jumping in on packages this weekend. Had been thinking Cat 9 prior to this updated info. So is the best play now the cat 1-5 package assuming no real plans for the stay certificate?
I’m not convinced there’s any one “best play”. see: https://frequentmiler.com/2018/08/15/the-case-against-buying-travel-packages-even-if-you-want-airline-miles/
Why did Marriott just came out with this statement? Shouldn’t this have been done months ago when they were so exited about this merger? Low management credit ability?
Totally agree. But also find it troubling that Marriott is willing to sell new travel packages immediately on the conversion date August 18, 2018 but existing travel packages will not be available to use until September 18, 2018. Even worse, for those who have hotels booked during the blackout dates 08/18 through 09/17 if there plans change they will lose the certificate since they can’t modify their existing reservation which I take to mean cancel as well. While Marriott is within their right to make changes to the program as they see fit according to their current terms & conditions are they allowed to have travel packages which were bought previously not be available for redemption for 1 month?
I also think that management has lost a lot of credibility in how they have handled the integration in the last few months. They were so excited to get the program transitioned mid-year so they could save their franchises money on the rewards program that they moved the goal post on benefits mid-year for those with SPG gold status who were previously matched to Marriott Gold status, and now travel packages which aren’t redeemable for a full-month. They should have just waited to merge the program on January 1, 2019 but I guess management didn’t want to have to work too hard over the holidays and wanted bigger bonuses since they could probably juice returns during the 4th quarter with all of the cost savings they have planned so instead it made more sense to lose goodwill with Marriott and SPG members instead.
WoW…impressive write-up!! I strongly agree, unfortunately….
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Anyone heard when SPG Biz card purchase points will post for August? My statement closed 8/2, still no points.
I’d expect the points to post after this coming weekend. Maybe Monday or Tuesday.
Am I reading this wrong or can I make a points reservation at a Marriott or SPG property now and attach my 5-night certificate after Sep 18th? I’m looking at a NYC property that’s cat 8 now but will be cat 5 starting Aug 18th. I have a cat 7 certificate that most likely will map to a cat 5 after Aug 18th.
Yeah, just make a reservation without the points come Aug 18. Then upgrade, if need be, to whatever cat you need for the SPG property and attach the reservation. Can’t see why this wouldn’t work.
I sure hope so. I’ve made a points reservation at a current Cat 7 hotel that will become Cat 4 after August 18th.
SPG is a different problem. They won’t let you reserve unless you have the points. Does anyone know if Marriott will continue it’s reserve even if you don’t have the points policy after August 18th?